Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[Eon's POV: ]

"Lucifer…"

"It's alright now Zoe. Everything is fine now so you can take the firewall down."

She had a worried expression as she looked behind me, at the students who lay on the floor unconscious.

There were hundreds of them and they had done nothing to deserve such a thing. 

As their captain, she couldn't bear looking at them in the state they were in and, as their friend that cherished them, she couldn't help but feel guilty and angry at the situation before her.

She was a good girl, and she loved her friends.

I can feel she was upset and angry at the scene before her through our connection. However, she knew they were alright and that they would soon be back to normal, perhaps without the memories of what had happened to them a moment before.

But they were fine, so, she breathed a sigh of relief and, took down the firewall that was stronger than even a (tier-5) magic spell.

"Captain!"

"Vice-captain! What happened!?"

"Darling!"

The students of our house who spotted us as soon as the wall was down shouted and attracted the attention of the students who had been sitting some distance away from them.

The mental shock of what had happened to the others was severe and Uriel did her best to calm them down along with Carla and the others who… weren't present there at the moment.

I didn't know where they had gone but at least Rein was here, and as soon as she saw me, she came running toward me and hugged me tightly, worry clearly visible on her face.

"It's fine Uriel. Everything is alright and everyone is fine as well." 

I stroked her head gently and looked up at the others.

"Listen up, everyone!

Can you please take care of the others along with Captain?

Please keep resting if you aren't fine. It's alright!

But today's practice will continue so don't go without finishing it. We will have new sweets today!"

They are asleep right now but they will soon wake up and when they wake up, they will be confused.

They might have problems distinguishing between reality and their dream and since they would be waking up from a deeper state of sleep, their mental state might be unstable for a moment.

They would be fine without assistance but, assistance would be helpful, and while they all do that, I will go out and find the bastards that caused this thing.

"Leave it us, vice-captain!"

"Yes!"

"Make way, people. Let us go!"

"Sweeeeeeets!"

They had different motivations. 

Some were helping their friends, some out of their own house spirits, some for the rewards and sweets, and some were helping just out of goodwill but, they were helping the others and, that much was enough.

"Where did they all go, Uriel? Where is Prince Alph?"

Celes told me they were from Prince Alph's house and that they were big strong people in good clothes.

She didn't know their names but, she certainly knew which house they belonged to, which was enough.

"They went that way… Prince Alph dragged them there with the others."

"Let's go there then. Zoe, we will take care of the things there so take care of yourself and the others here. 

I will be back shortly."

"Don't worry about us. We will be fine~."

She smiled reassuringly and nodded at me confidently, which was enough for now.

"We will be back then."

She was here so there was nothing for me to worry about. I can take care of those bastards on my own… or at least, I was going to take care of them on my own until I reached the empty practice room where something else was going on.

"What are they doing Carla? What is happening… here?"

This was an empty training hall that was only accessible to the house captains for their personal training but right now, all our friends were here, and were watching the students in the middle of the training hall that was… fighting against their own vice-captain.

"Please stop! We didn't mean to do any of it! Please!"

"Vice-captain! I'm sorrrrrrrrrrry!"

"Aghhhhhhhhhhh!"

There were three of them, all three from royal families of some prominent nations of the eastern continent, and, all of them were also quite strong rankers who had achieved good results in their entrance exams.

They were good athletes as well and more than their talents, they were famous for their arrogance and the pride they took in themselves for being 'superior' to the other lowly students around them.

'They were the usual young masters from the novel and I doubted there would be something similar to this to this whole story but, what they are going through right now… this isn't the extent I was planning to go to in the normal circumstances.'

Prince Alpha stood on the sidelines in front of all of us and the vice-captain of his house, one of the strongest students currently present on campus, Orc Bjorn, was washing the three of them like they were mere worthless clothes.

And by washing, I literally mean washing them like they were clothes.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"STOPPPPPPP!"

The three were big boys, certainly. Taller than the mass, one of them a little taller than even me and Carla. However, their opponent was a pureblood orc and one with the potential to become someone of great power in the future.

'He had strength and the talent as well as the skills required to become someone that the others could look up to, and, it all could be seen in the way he was treating these kids at the moment.'

With the power of his force, the innate ability of his kind to control things through an invisible force that is a little different from Telekinetic magic in the application, he was holding them above a large tub of water and, the waters inside of this tub was spinning like a whirlpool so, whenever he dipped them inside there, the pressure, the pain from the moving water that was nothing less sharp than small blades, the powerlessness, the hurt to their pride by the pathetic state they were in, and the pain was far more severe than a few punches and insults from me.

"AGHHHHHH! You cannot do this to us you pathetic loser! Stop this! Aghhhhhhhhh! You worthless fake prince! Stoooooooooop this!"

Prince Alph was just looking at them with cold eyes of disappointment.

There was a kind of anger in them that even I was seeing for the first time, and, it was real.

He was angry at them, really angry. 

'Damn.'

I got a strange feeling while looking at him that indicated, if he could, he would have cut their limbs off at this very moment, however, doing so would put him in a difficult situation.

He couldn't hurt them directly, however, if we were talking about the things he could and couldn't do to his own house members, then, yes. What he was doing right now fell completely under his rightful authority.

"Oink! Captain! This one speaks badly! Oink! Captain! We throw this thing away!"

"I would have loved that if I could Bjorn. But, they are useful even after the crime they have committed. And, this is the best I can do at my position, so, just continue doing this until they break down."

"Oink! Yes, captain!"

The house captains had authorities granted to them by the academy, and according to them, we had the right to punish the house members for any kind of disrespectful action they might have committed against their own or the other house members, or captains.

These punishments weren't mentioned specifically so the house captain could do anything to them their wild imagination might allow however, there were guidelines as to what they could do to their house members.

And, these guidelines were very specific.

Like, very, very specific.

'The amount of mental or physical pain one can inflict on them, the degree of damage they can cause to them on the academy grounds, the things they could use to do anything to them and to any specific part of their bodies, the environmental factors, the external factors, the conditions, and the things that were absolutely forbidden were some of the things at least one of the house captain had to thoroughly understand and memorize.'

And, what he was doing right now, was the very limit of the punishment we could give to the offenders.

'A water that was spinning at a certain speed and was of a certain coldness, the air around them that was of a certain hotness, the energy that was binding them and restricting their use of defensive or protective skills, the rhythms in which they were dipped into this water and the time they were spending under the water, it was all so precise even I might mistake it for something too extreme.'

The condition the students were in was bad as a result which might make things even more difficult.

There were cuts visible all over their bodies but since they were being washed so quickly, there were just red or white marks without blood left.

The water had become somewhat red from their blood, however, since it was spinning constantly and was being refilled by the water spirits Princess Isabella was lending him, it was in a harmonic equilibrium.

And, this very peaceful thing was making the results even more painful.

"Prince Alph. You should stop now."

"Oh~. Vice-captain Lucifer! I am terribly sorry for what my house members have done however, you can rest assured. 

Once I'm finished with them, which will certainly happen soon, you can take them to the headmaster for the proper disciplinary actions."

There was a coldness in his voice that not just me, but the others found surprising as well… and it felt dangerous for some reason.

"I know that. However, this should be enough of a punishment."

"It should be. However, as their captain, I know for a fact that it is not even nearly enough."

"AGHHHHHHHHH!"

"Stop this! Please! Captain! Aghhhhhhhh!"

One of them was already unconscious, their skin was pale, the body temperature had dropped considerably, and they were barely hanging on to the safety line, and since their very internal energy passages were blocked, or the Qi points throughout their body were restricted would be a better way to say it, they couldn't even use their own energy to keep their body warm, or conscious.

They might get seriously injured if he continues that… and since his vice-captain was like an extension of his own limb now, saying anything to that orc wouldn't make any difference at all.

"Stop it, Prince Alph. This is enough. It was a mistake on my part as well. They just did something innocently stupid. The smoke wasn't caused by them… most probably."

"I know that much already, Captain Lucifer. However, I am not punishing them because of the smoke."

The coldness in his eyes increased even more as he looked at the three of them, the serging anger barely stopping at the doors of his heart.

[[ He looks scary, master… ]]

[[ *Anger of the purest kind that is being kept under control… a rare sight, master.* ]]

He was angry.

"I am punishing them because they did something they shouldn't have in the first place."

But that did not mean he could go this far.

"And you have made your point, so, please stop this or I will do it myself."

He was also at fault since he couldn't handle his own house members and this punishment will do little to prevent anything like this from happening again. 

"This is enough."

They were just students as well.

As a captain, he could not go as far as keeping them barely alive even while doing things by the book.

He, as the captain, could not go as far as he intended to… or, what was being reflected through those enraged eyes.